


Gertrude

by Lyledebeast



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Birthday Presents, Established Relationship, Fluff, Kittens, M/M, animal death mentioned, gingerpilot summer event 2019, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-16 03:04:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19309339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyledebeast/pseuds/Lyledebeast
Summary: It's Armitage's birthday, and Poe has an idea for the perfect gift.  Finn has some concerns.





	Gertrude

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Finn said.

He never should have brought up the kriffing kitten.

He had gone home with Poe to have a beer after work, after being reassured that Hux would be at work late finishing a project.  One beer turned into two, and Finn had found it impossible to contain his excitement over the surprise he was getting his girlfriend for their one-year anniversary.

“Rey has always wanted a kitten, and one of my recruits’ cats had six a few months ago.  I’m going to pick ours up next week, right before she gets back from her mission.”

“Are there any more?” Poe asked, his eyes lighting up.

Finn felt his buzz dissipate.  “What?”

“You said there were six kittens, right? You’re getting one for Rey; who is getting the others?”

Finn reached for another beer, trying to change the subject.

“This is good! Where did you say you got it?”

“Come on, buddy.  Are there any kittens left?”

Finn sighed as he pried off the lid.  Why hadn’t he kept his mouth shut?  “Why do you need a kitten, Poe?”

“Well, you probably didn’t know this, but Armitage’s birthday is next week, too.  It’s actually the night before Rey is supposed to be back.”

“Oh.” Finn frowned.  “You’re still coming for dinner though, right?”

“Oh, yeah.   As long as the date doesn’t change, I mean.  In case she gets back early.”

“No, I . . . we’ll keep it the same.”  It wasn’t that Rey and his invitations didn’t extend to Hux as well, but Hux hadn’t shown much interest in socializing with Poe’s friends, and for his own part, Finn hadn’t put his heart into convincing him.

“And I’d feel better about leaving Armitage on his own for the evening if he had a little friend.”

Finn couldn’t resist rolling his eyes at that.

“Come on!” Poe pleaded.  “You know how much Armitage loves cats.  Remember last week?”

Finn took a long gulp of his beer.  He certainly did. 

He had seen them from a distance and considered crossing to the other side of the road before Poe saw him and waved him over.

When he got there, Hux was on his hands and knees, in spite of the snow on the ground, reaching for a cat that was lying under a bench on the side of the street with its paws tucked under it.

“Are you cold, baby? It’s okay, don’t be scared,” Hux cooed.  It was the most bizarre thing Finn had ever seen.  After all the screeching he’d heard during his years as a stormtrooper, he didn’t know Hux’s voice could be so soft.

“There’s a cat,” Poe had offered when he saw Finn staring.

“Yeah . . . that’s not what worries me.”

About then, the stray had thought the better of the situation and run off.  Hux had gotten up, red-cheeked with embarrassment when he noticed Finn, and given him an awkward greeting.  Their greetings were still always like that, even though he’d been living with Poe for six months.

“Don’t you think it’s a little . . . early for you and Hux to be thinking about getting a pet?” Finn asked when Poe refused to let the subject drop.

He laughed at that.  “Oh, come on, Finn! It’s not like we’re having a kid.  I had been thinking about getting a pet even before Hux moved in; I just haven’t had a chance before now.”

Finn shrugged.  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this. I don’t know; you really ought to think about it more.”

For a moment, Poe was quiet, frowning.  “He’s had a cat before.  You remember Millicent.”

He remembered Millicent.  How could he forget? “Yeah.  That’s what I’m thinking about.”

Poe’s eyebrows went up.  For the first time, he looked concerned.  “What do you remember?”

Finn took another drink.  “Well . . . he used to make these tiny little mouse droids for her to play with.”  He remembered them with a shudder.  Sometimes they would escape Millicent and get into the stormtrooper’s quarters.  Finn had to admit, they were pretty cute. 

And then he had seen Millicent catch one.

The corner of Poe’s mouth turned up.  “Oh, wow, mouse droids.  He’s a real supervillain, making toys for his cat!”

“He programmed them to scream when she caught them!”

“Oh.” The eyebrows went up again.  “You mean . . . human screams?”

Finn’s eyes widened.  “No.  No, they were little mouse squeaks, but still.”

Poe smiled and sighed with relief.

“Good.  You almost had me worried for a minute.”

“They still _screamed_ , Poe! Don’t you think that’s disturbing?”

“I think it’s a good thing you’ve never seen a cat kill an organism mouse.”

Finn shook his head and gave up.  “Okay.  If you insist . . . I think there may be one or two kittens left.”

* * *

Poe couldn’t believe how much it cost to bring home a free cat.  The recruit and her husband had been so happy that Poe Dameron wanted one of their kittens, but even the list of “minimum requirements” they gave him was daunting.  And that was even before the vet visit.

“I just hope Armitage likes you,” Poe told the kitten.  “That’s all I can say.”

She yawned and scratched one of her ears with a white hind foot, completely unimpressed.

At least she’s calmed down, Poe thought to himself.  He had taken BB-8 along to help him choose, and over the course of the day she had worn down even the droid’s energy.

The sole orange kitten had been the first to find a home, they told Poe, much to his disappointment. Indeed, there had only been three kittens left: this grey and white that the owners had said was a girl and two solid greys they told him were boys. Poe could see no difference between them; what had made the girl stand out was her boldness.  She hadn’t run at the sight of BB-8 as the other kittens had.  Rather, the girl walked straight up to him and batted the appendage he stretched out to her, making him beep delightedly and roll in a circle, the tiny kitten bounding after him. 

Well, Poe thought, at least one of us is sure about this.

The kitten had screamed from her carrier all the way to the vet’s office, drawing distressed beeps from BB-8, and then refused to come out.  The vet had told Poe that the vaccinations might make her drowsy, but so far there had been no such luck.  She had taken off as soon as he opened the carrier to let her explore, but soon she found her way back to him and would not let him get anything done.  Eventually, he had given up on his paperwork to play with her.  It had taken most of the afternoon to wind her down, and that had been enough to make BB-8 put himself in low power mode.

Of course, it wasn’t until the kitten had fallen asleep under the sofa that Armitage finally made it home.  The weather had grown bleaker as the day went on, and it had started to sleet soon after Poe got home.  He knew the cold bothered Armitage less than himself, but he couldn’t help worrying that he might slip on the ice and injure himself during his long walk home.  By the time he heard the door open, it didn’t matter that the kitten was nowhere to be seen.

“I apologize for being late,” Armitage grumbled as Poe helped him take off his coat.  “We stayed late finishing a draft of the plans because, yet again, General Kent had concerns.” The last word came out as a snarl.

Poe sighed.  “You know he just wants to be thorough, Hugs.” He wanted to add that he was sure Armitage had been every bit as much of a pain in the ass to his subordinates, but the scowl on his face made him think the better of it.  Armitage was positively grouchy.

“I know that he doesn’t trust me, not even now.  He should know all this . . . supervision is unnecessary.  I was the project leader from the beginning on . . .”

“On Starkiller Base?” Poe ventured.

Armitage stopped mid-rant to look at him.  Then he sat down by his side, and put his face in his hands, groaning with exasperation.  “If he thinks I could build another superweapon with the meager resources he’s given me,” he muttered, “you would think he might treat me with more respect.”

Poe put an arm around Armitage and lay his head on his shoulder.

“I know it’s hard, babe.  Working under another engineer and having to meet his approval.  I wouldn’t like it either.”

He could feel him relaxing already.  Sometimes all he needed was someone to whine to for a little bit.  Poe sometimes wondered how much he had gotten of that before they met. “It’s not just that,” Armitage went on.  “I knew that I was starting over when I came here.  And I knew everyone hated me.  I couldn’t even blame them, really.  But I would have thought that, by now, that would have started to change.”

As Armitage spoke, Poe could feel tiny, sharp claws digging into the back of his trouser leg.  “Uh huh,” he replied, distracted.

Armitage shot him an annoyed look.

“If you had defected to the First Order, do you think you would manage any better?”

Poe felt the claws again, higher.  “Nope.” It came out almost as a yelp.

“I am doing good work for them,” Armitage went on, defensive.  “I do not understand what they want from me.”

Poe opened his mouth to answer, but the sound that caught Armitage’s attention was a tiny plaintive mew from underneath the sofa.

“Was that . . . ?”

As his speech trailed off, the kitten jumped up on Poe’s knee with a meow that grew into a needy bellow.

Armitage gasped and his green eyes went wide.

“It’s a . . . it’s . . . “ he stammered.

“Happy birthday, Hugs!”

“You darling thing,” Armitage whispered, and for a moment Poe didn’t know whether he meant him or the cat.  Then he tentatively reached for the kitten. 

As she sniffed his fingers, a thought occurred to Poe that never had before.  What if the kitten didn’t like Armitage?

But some signal must have passed between them, unreadable to Poe, for when Armitage lifted the kitten onto his lap, she butted her tiny head against his belly.

“So . . . you’re happy with her?” Poe asked.

For a moment, Armitage could only stare at the kitten, lips parted in disbelief.  But when he looked up at him, his eyes were shining with tears.  “Oh, Poe . . . do you really have to ask?”

Poe grinned, his cheeks warming with pleasure.

“I wanted to get an orange and white one.  You know, to match the rest of my family.  But she just had a lot of personality, and I knew you’d like that.”

Armitage stroked the kitten gently, his hand covering almost the whole of her body, and a single tear rolled down his cheek.

“Was Millie that tiny when you got her?” Poe asked.

Armitage wiped his cheek with the back of his hand.  “No . . . um.  No.  She was an adult already.  When I found her.”

His voice came out thick with emotion, but Poe knew it would only embarrass him if he called attention to it.  Talking about his old cat wouldn’t stop his tears, he knew, but it might distract him.  Besides, he had never heard that story before.  For several reasons.

“Where was she?”

Armitage sniffled.  “She was on some trash planet.  I can’t even remember which one.  We were testing explosives there, and some of my troopers reported that they a cat was getting into their food supplies.  Phasma was in favor of executing her, but I . . . I had always wanted a cat.”

He looked down at the kitten, which was purring loudly, and smiled.

“The troopers thought she was vicious, but I thought she might just be hungry, so I got some canned fish from the provisions reserved for officers and took that to her.  She was so skinny and filthy, but as bold as anything.  She made it quite clear that she wasn’t afraid of me.”

Poe smiled.  He had chosen well after all.

“So, it was love at first sight.  Or bite, rather.”

Armitage smiled up at him.  “Not quite.  It was a big adjustment for her, living on a star destroyer.” Poe noted that he sounded more like himself already.

“Finn told me how you kept her occupied.  Squeaking mouse droids, wasn’t it? Clever.”

“My subordinate officers didn’t seem to think so.  The used to grumble about the ‘waste of resources, sir.’”

“And I’m sure that put a stop to it,” Poe replied, grinning.

Armitage gave him a mischievous smirk.  “Oh, I paid it the attention it warranted, which was none.  Officers were permitted recreation, and I’m sure I indulged in less than most of them.”

Poe was sure of it too, if the way he overworked himself now was anything to go by.  In spite of the smirk, there was an unmistakable note of bitterness in Armitage’s voice.  He might complain about General Kent now, but it was clear that he had never gotten along with his fellow officers, not even those who worked under him in the FO.  Millicent was, almost certainly, the only friend he’d had.

“I’m sorry about your cat,” he said abruptly.  In truth, it was the only thing about the destruction of

Starkiller Base he regretted.

Armitage looked up at him.  Despite the sad smile on his face, Poe noticed that he was holding the kitten a bit tighter.

“You know I don’t blame you for that, Poe.  We were at war.  Anyone can be a cas . . . OW!”

The kitten had turned her head and buried her tiny sharp teeth in the side of Armitage’s hand.

“No, it’s fine!” he exclaimed when Poe reprimanded the kitten and reached to take her.  “It was my fault.  I scared her.”

“Okay, if you say so.” Poe sat down, chuckling.  “It looks like I picked the right cat for you, huh?”

Armitage beamed at him.  “Poe, she’s perfect.”

He wiggled his fingers back and forth on his thigh until the kitten pounced, grabbing one between her little white paws and biting him again.  His smile only grew wider.

As he watched him, Poe couldn’t help feeling a little sad.  He knew that Armitage cared for him, whatever doubts others might still harbor, but he didn’t think he’d ever seen him so happy, in such an uncomplicated way.  Even when had moved in, he was glad and thankful, and eventually he had begun to relax.  But he was still anxious sometimes, as though he feared even Poe’s acceptance of him was conditional.

“What will you name her?” Poe asked, banishing the thought for now.

Armitage’s brow furrowed.  He looked down at the kitten, who was finally settling in his lap, as though she would tell him the answer.

And, apparently, she did.  A few moments later, Armitage looked up with an air of finality.

“Gertrude.”

Poe gave him a fond smile.  It was as stuffy a name as he could have expected, and already he was thinking of modifications that would, not doubt, annoy Armitage until he resigned himself to it.  Just as he had with Hugs.

“’Gertrude’ it is,” he said as he got up and turned towards the kitchen.  “Now, if you’re sure you’re safe alone with her, I’ll get our dinner ready.  It’s a good thing I went shopping before I got her.  She’s given me no rest since I brought her home.”

Armitage didn’t even look up, his attention absorbed by Gertrude yawning and stretching on his lap.

“Hugs?”

Armitage turned and looked at him over the back of the sofa.  “Poe, come here.”

He took a step forward and bent down to let Armitage kiss him without disturbing the kitten.  Finally, she seemed to be falling asleep, though who knew how long it would last this time?

“Thank you, darling.  I love her.”

Poe smiled.  Whatever aggravation she caused, and however much of Armitage’s attention she took, it would be worth it.

“You’re welcome, Hugs.”


End file.
